Coming around the corner its Burlesque and Demythologization, followed by Recuperation of Myth as Myth, with Nostalgia trailing. Here they come; it’s a close finish… and, oh it looks like it’s going to be a photo finish with Burlesque and Demythologization, Recuperation of Myth as Myth in second, and Nostalgia bringing up the rear.

 

Yes, looks like the smart money was on Burlesque and Demythologization in Miller’s Crossing. After having seen the film in its entirety, I think that it is more of a Burlesque/ Demythologization film than anything else. The film was VERY self aware (you can tell from the very characteristic “gangster” types, Albert Finney’s fantastic scene with a Tommy Gun, the low camera angles when we see our “Jeff,” and not to mention that absolutely hilarious scene between Mike Starr and Gabriel Byrne), and it had a clear message, at least the message that I feel as though I got.

 

Everything in this film was over the top. Maybe not satirical, farcical over-the-top, but definitely over-exaggerated (I think that the two best scenes to explain what I am saying are the two aforementioned scenes… which, incidentally, I could watch over and over again and never get tired of them). And the Burlesque quality of this film definitely demythologized the original Alan Laad/Veronica Lake Glass Key. Being in the dirty politics business isn’t as glamorous as all those wonderful soft-focus shots would leave you to believe. It’s full of gangsters with Tommy Guns, friends and lovers turning on one another, sex, violent riots, the mayor and chief of police being wrapped about your little finger, hangovers, and seeing dead bodies decomposing.